Friday, October 06, 2006

My 2006 Walkoffs

Loretta homers to win it on Patriots' Day, the day I went to two MLB games in two different cities.

Papi's homer beats Phils in the Brett Myers post-assault game, June 24th.


Big Papi strikes again vs. Angels, July 29th, as I film, in my first game in the Pavilion seats.

Hometown hero Carlos Pena with a no-doubter to send us working-types home happy on Labor Day.

I was lucky enough to have witnessed four walkoffs in one season. (The team had eight in 2006. Here's the all-time list.) Some of my others, off the top of my head, include O-Cab's HR the day he flew back from Colombia in September '04, (got one of my four major league baseballs at that game--all four were in batting practice; still waiting for that first real game ball), Manny's single in the 14th against Houston in '03, (Got another of the four balls that day. Wow, I never realized that before: the two balls I got at Fenway were both on days where the Sox would get a walk-off win.), Carl Everett's home run in '00 (I somehow dragged Chan up to Boston for that one, and I have a pic of Everett crossing the plate, from the pre-digital days), Todd Pratt beating us in Philly in '03 with a homer off of Seanez I, the Mel Hall game in 1991, which, fortunately, we left early, and the day at Yankee Stadium in 1987 when pre-roids Clemens (yeah, I said it) blew a 9-0 lead.

Comments:
I have a notoriously bad memory. Up until a day or two ago, I thought the only 'walk-offs' I had ever seen was the Carlos Pena one this year, and the "I can't believe they just walked Papi to load the bases and get to Manny and they WALKED MANNY FOR THE WINNING RUN" against the A's in September 2005.

But, I was talking to someone about the first game I was ever at...which happened to be the game where Wade Boggs hit his first big league homerun...and I looked it up online and found out that he hit that homerun to win the game in the 11th inning.

How do you forget you saw a walk-off?

My defense is that it wasn't called a walk-off back then...plus I was, what, 13, I think...
 
Laura and I were at that game also. Memorial Day. We stayed until the end.

She's got a great story about dancing over and taunting a drunk Red Sox fan after the game was over (not her style at all).

Quickly: Sox take a 1-0 lead early. Drunk Sox fan in next section (were were on the 3B side) starts yelling many times: "1-0. That's all we need!" It was more amusing than obnoxious.

After the 3rd inning, he (I guess) passes out. And is quiet.

Reardon gives up the 3-run game-winning HR and the MFY PA plays "Shout!" as they did for wins then.

Crowd going nuts -- MFY fans thrilled, Sox fans shaking their heads at the absurdity of it all, drunk guy looking pretty sheepish -- and Laura goes over and starts dancing and pointing at him. "Shout!"

Honestly, it was hilarious. Even he was trying not to smile.
 
From that SoSH wiki list, I was there for the following walk-offs:

Trot Nixon 2003 ALDS Game 3
Mo Vaughn Opening Day 1998 (grand salami off Slocumb)
Benzinger 7/20/88 (mentioned that one a while back)

I might have been there for the Evans walk-off in '79, or the Fisk one in'80...I'd have to look them up.
 
jfBeazer: I'm sure I forgot at least one...

jfredsock: I remember you were also at the Hall game. I commented about it on your blog when you did the long post about it. My dad always made us leave early to beat traffic. So we were on the Hutch when we heard the Hall HR.

jfAJM: The Benziger game was awesome, as was, of course, Matty's Trot game. And the Mo Vaughn game: I totally remember listening to the entire game, and in the ninth, even I, who never gives up, just flipped it off. That one seemed over. I was so pissed I missed a Mo grand walkoff slam. Must've been a nice April day since I remember listening out on the deck of my old house in Ridgefield.

Just checked. 51.8 degrees at Danbury Airport with a trace of rain. Thank you Farmer's Almanac. You can search any day by zip code since '73! Have to register. Free.
 
jfJere:
The weather in Boston for the '98 opener was actually very grey, cold and overcast, and it drizzled a couple of times, so many fans had left before the ninth. My friends and I stayed, of course, and were sitting down the first base line. I still remember Slocumb trotting by us coming in from the bullpen, and telling everyone within earshot that the Sox would win.

It was also Good Friday, so no beer was served in Fenway...I remember being in the Cask'n'flagon at around 10:30 in the morning with my then toddler godson, who was trying to dodge all the guys drinking around him.

I could swear I attended a Dewey walk-off in Fenway, but it wasn't that '79 game...I think it was '82 for some reason.
 
So I'm getting old and repeating myself, telling the same boring stories of my younger days ....

sigh
 
Here I am coming around to post about the Mel Hall game, and I find Mr Sock has already done so, and what's more, you remembered his first post about it.

Truly, it was *very* funny, for Sox fans, too. I did it completely spontaneously, while dancing, and in time to the music. He was in another section and I had to dance my way over there.

The Yankees sucked in those days, and the guy was what *you* might see as a typical Yankees fan, but he was a Red Sox fan.

I swear it was all in good fun.

Honest.
 

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